Finale Sweeps Infused in GameReplays Season 3 Invitational Finals

If a panel of scene followers and pro players was formed at the beginning of the 3rd GameReplays Invitational, pretty sure majority would not have predicted the outcome of this one. Despite all the jokes regarding their situation with ringers, xFin managed to come out on top, beating Infused in the finals in a decisive 3-0 manner.

Finale's lineup for Game 1 was lacking actual team members. They enlisted the help of Kebap, twiSta, and Overpow, ringers who had been playing on and off with xFin throughout the tournament. Auto-bans for this series included the new hero, Empath, and Myrmidon (Weed Field bug). Infs drafted a team of strong AoE ultimates, while xFin had four strong AoE ultimates of their own, relying on a Defiler carry.

The Gladiator tri-lane vs. Kraken tri-lane at top resulted in a lot of early clashes, which only escalated once the powerful ultimates started coming out from both sides. Infs held a slight advantage, but almost all of xFin's kills were going to Defiler. Infs knew that they lacked a hard carry, and Defiler could run away with the game if it continued to go the same way.

The key teamfight of the game happened in the Legion jungle; Infs gave up two kills to Defiler, but took out the four other members of xFin. As Defiler ran away, Infs mistakenly thought that her ultimate had run out, and went back in to fight her. She got healed at the perfect moment, and Infs ended up feeding her two more kills. Infs ultimately lost, despite holding large leads in experience and gold for most of the game.

---End Game 1---
I imagine that Infs must have been feeling drained at this point, after losing a brutal, hour-long game and having to play through qualifiers for the ESL Major Series earlier that day. Finale, on the other hand, gained [xFin] Sn3yking in their lineup, substituting him in for Kebap. A last-pick Vindicator to counter xFin's Doctor Repulsor drew memories of xFin's Game 1 loss to ICE in the semifinals.

But while ICE had used their Vindicator as a solo-mid carry, [Infs] Buch played a support role in their Flint Beastwood tri-lane. Finale chose to leave that lane empty for most of the early-game, and sacrificing levels on their Hellbringer seemed like a questionable decision. Infs eventually broke the passivity of the game, but the fights that they initiated did not turn out in their favor. Once again, [xFin] waytosexy got an early Hat Trick, and this time it was The Madman who would end the game after only 26 minutes.

---End Game 2---
Finale had another roster change for Game 3, with Kebap replacing [xFin] waytosexy. Under Kebap's leadership, xFin chose an interesting strategy of solo Electrician, Madman dual-lane mid, and Defiler as a secondary carry. Infs picked up TDL, along with a pretty standard team setup for them.

With so much momentum, xFin continued to play strong in Game 3. They put pressure on the bottom tower, while letting The Madman farm and push top by himself. This kept his farm slightly ahead of TDL's, who struggled to finish Shrunken Head and was hit hard by disables during teamfights. The Madman eventually bought an entire Savage Mace all at once, and it was more than enough to seal the game and crown Finale as the GameReplays Tournament Season 3 champions!

---End Game 3---
In an interview for SK-Gaming.com, [xFin] Sn3yking gave a few comments about his team after the match:





The interview reports that xFin disbanded shortly afterward. After this big win, it will be interesting to see how much of their success was attributed to ringers Kebap, twiSta, and Overpow, and how the remaining members will fare in upcoming events. Keep an eye out for both teams in our coverage of the HoN Super Series and the Honcast HoNor Tournament, and for Infs in the ESL Major Series, where they have already qualified for Season 8!

Links
GameReplays.org - Source
SK-Gaming.com - Interview with Sk3yking